Many people make fun of Kentucky.  Sure, there’s a dearth of dental hygiene and a DNA distinction issue, but it really isn’t anywhere near as bad as people say, right?  Well, consider this bill proposed to the Kentucky legislature, picked by our hinterlands correspondent, Kathleen “Miz K” Casey, who is apparently hiding out from the revenuers in search of the wild and bizarre.

From the local ABC affiliate, WTVO 36 :

Kentucky Representative  Tim Couch filed a bill [House bill 775] this week to make anonymous posting online illegal.  The bill would require anyone who contributes to a website to register their real name, address and e-mail address with that site.   Their full name would be used anytime a comment is posted.

Full name?  You mean, like Timothy instead of Tim?  So tell me, Timmy, what exactly do you plan to do if somebody posts a comment and lies about their name (let’s make this as malevolent as possible, shall we?).

If the bill becomes law, the website operator would have to pay if someone was allowed to post anonymously on their site. The fine would be five-hundred dollars for a first offense and one-thousand dollars for each offense after that.

And that would be against who, me, the blawg owner, or Mr. Anon@Anon?  (Incidentally, I think you should give me your real names too, but just to satisfy my pathetic idle curiosity and let me track you down if need be.)

Just so we’re clear, when Representative Couch is not busy proposing new laws, he spends his time running the Hayden Grocery and Couch’s Shell station.  He pumps gas real good.

For those of you who so desperately want to attribute a semblance of intelligence to the otherwise pathologically silly things that politicos do, would you like the offer an explanation of how exactly Timmy thinks he’s going to make this happen?

Representative Couch says enforcing this bill if it became law would be a challenge.

You think?  Maybe the Kentucky Highway Patrol is going to make a road trip to New York and make me pay?  I certainly don’t want to trouble them, so anybody thinking about posting an anonymous comment on the inter net, please show Kentucky a little consideration and please register your full name, address and email with the State of Kentucky.  You can do so at [email protected]. 

Hey Jim Chen, is it something in the water down there that makes the fellas in Frankfort come up with this stuff?